Opera Singer Nicola Rossi-lemeni

Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, the versatile Italian singer whose dark, brooding bass voice and commanding stage presence brought distinction to the early seasons of Lyric Opera, died of liver cancer Tuesday at Bloomington Hospital in Bloomington, Ind. He was 70.

Mr. Rossi-Lemeni was among the brightest stars in a constellation of Italian opera singers, including Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, Giulietta Simionato, Giuseppe di Stefano, Ettore Bastianini and Tito Gobbi, who made notable careers in American opera theaters shortly after World War II.

Although he won acclaim singing at the Metropolitan, San Francisco, Covent Garden and other houses, it was the Lyric Opera of Chicago (originally called Lyric Theater) that gave him perhaps his greatest American successes.

Mr. Rossi-Lemeni made his Chicago opera debut in the title role of Mozart`s ``Don Giovanni`` during the Lyric`s ``calling card`` season in February 1954, singing opposite Eleanor Steber and Bidu Sayao. He returned in November to open the fall Lyric season in two historic performances of Bellini`s ``Norma,`` sharing the stage with Callas and Simionato. Later that month he sang Basilio in Rossini`s ``The Barber of Seville,`` winning acclaim for his ability to switch effortlessly from serious to comic roles.

Of Mr. Rossi-Lemeni`s Chicago recital debut in November 1952, critic Claudia Cassidy, an early Rossi-Lemeni enthusiast, wrote: ``It is a huge voice, blackly Russian, superbly focused, almost unbelievably chameleonic. . . . It is a voice full of shadows.``

Born in Istanbul of Italian and Russian parentage, Mr. Rossi-Lemeni made his debut in Venice in 1946 as Varlaam in Mussorgsky`s ``Boris Godunov.``

In his prime he was acclaimed for his smooth, mellow voice and uncommon musical and dramatic intelligence, qualities that suited him for such roles as Godunov and Philip II in Verdi`s ``Don Carlo.``

In recent years he and his wife, the soprano Virginia Zeani, had been teaching voice on the faculty of the Indiana University School of Music, Bloomington, which last month awarded him the title of distinguished professor.

Besides his wife, survivors include a son, Alexandro, a surgeon living in Rome; and his father, Paolo Rossi-Lemeni.